Archive for July, 2010

How to be Smarter: You gotta have rules for your own life. They don’t have to make sense to other people, but you need to have boundaries that you have created for yourself and will not bend on. There is no need to have a million personal dealbreakers, but there is also no need to have none, either.

How to be Prettier: This is a great dress because you can wear it with a white blazer over it to work, and then ditch the blazer and reveal the cutout for a post-work happy hour.

How to be (less) Awkward: Sometimes, even if I have enough clean laundry, I still wear my bathing suit under my work clothes. During the summer I’m inside all day in an office building in the middle of the city, but secretly knowing that at any second I am beach-ready makes me feel happy.

How to be Smarter: One of the scariest things in a long distance relationship is uncertainty about staying connected. Before embarking on a distance separation, mitigate the fear of the unknown future with a communication plan. It doesn’t need to be written down, but it needs to be talked about. If you are actually serious about staying together, you need to be serious about thinking of ways to stay involved with each other’s lives. Discuss: How often will you talk? At a set time each day? Before dinner? Before bed? Will you text throughout the day, or will you talk about everything you need to say in a daily phone conversation? Is email an option? What about old-fashioned love letters and care packages? Can you visit? How often will you visit? Be aware that as the relationship goes on, your routines will need to change, and some days you might talk five times and some days you might talk none. But some sense of what to expect—some semblance of a plan—can and will help.

How to be Prettier: The big trend for late summer-going into fall footwear is going to be peep-toe short boots. Some examples here, here and here.

How to be (less) Awkward: An awkward silence on the phone always, always, always ends. Someone will always, always, always say something. Remind yourself of that during an awkward silence — to my knowledge, an awkward silence has yet to prove fatal.

How to be Smarter: I love googling “Six Word Memoir” and seeing what examples come up; this is one of my favorite articles that explains the phenomenon.

How to be Prettier: In general, the least healthy food is kept in the middle aisles of the grocery store. The middle is usually where the Gushers and the Cheetos are kept; the edges of the store is usually where they keep the produce, premade sushis and salads, and other fresh foods. Try to steer clear of being tempted by unhealthy foods by sticking to the edges of the store.

How to be (less) Awkward: Even if you are eating with a paper napkin, treat it with the same care you would a cloth napkin: no ripping or balling it up.

How to be Smarter: Don’t date people that make a huge mess at the sugar/milk station at Starbucks and don’t clean it up themselves. People that make huge messes and expect someone else to clean it up, both at sugar/milk stations and in life, are to be avoided.